Inside the carriage heading from Mount Song to Emei.

There, Su Yeohyang was tasting hell.

In the suffocating atmosphere, Su Yeohyang stealthily turned her eyes to the left.

There, Cheon Suhye was sitting without a single movement, with an appearance as if a cold chill would flow.

'This person is really scary!'

Su Yeohyang, who had been stealthily glancing at Cheon Suhye, hastily turned her eyes away as she met her eyes.

At that, there was Tang Yuhwa, who was expressionless but clearly looked displeased.

'This person is difficult in a different sense!'

It was already hard to talk to her because she was usually expressionless, but now her atmosphere was like a poisonous snake that had embraced poison.

Su Yeohyang, who was caught between the two, could not help but naturally shrink back.

In such a situation, Zhuge Hwaryeong had stealthily slipped out and was driving the horse.

'Brother Hwaryeong!!'

Su Yeohyang screamed in her heart, calling Zhuge Hwaryeong's name.

And so, Su Yeohyang, who had been struggling inside for a long time, could not bear this atmosphere and stealthily uttered the question she was feeling now.

"I'm sure Shinseung told the female benefactors to go to Emei, but why is Brother Hwaryeong included?"

Even while asking the question, unable to win against the atmosphere, Su Yeohyang laughed awkwardly, ahaha.

And.

"She's a cross-dressing pervert."

"She's a woman who cross-dresses."

The answers came back at the same time.

Cheon Suhye's side had a chilly feeling as if a cold chill were present, and Tang Yuhwa had a venomous feeling.

Su Yeohyang, unable to win against the answers that came at the same time, shrank back and screamed inside, astonished at the content.

'It wasn't Brother Hwaryeong, but Sister Hwaryeong?! Was I the only one who didn't know?!'

Engulfed in a great shock, Su Yeohyang opened the carriage door without realizing it.

Although moving in a running carriage was not easy even for a martial artist, with a movement like a slug, Su Yeohyang moved to the driver's seat.

"Hyang-ah? It's dangerous to move in a running carriage..."

"Brother Hwaryeong... no, Sister!!"

As soon as Su Yeohyang took a seat in the driver's seat, she shouted at Zhuge Hwaryeong.

Zhuge Hwaryeong blinked her eyes at Su Yeohyang's shout and then laughed awkwardly.

"W-well, what's the matter?"

"It wasn't a brother, but a sister?! No wonder I didn't feel the kind of repulsion I feel from men!!"

Emei was a forbidden area for men.

Therefore, Su Yeohyang did not have much contact with men and did not have much resistance.

In the case of Baek Yoonjun, it was fine because although his inner self was whatever, his outer appearance looked like a person who had transcended the mortal world, and in the case of Hyejin, it was fine because he was a monk who was in the same Buddhist gate.

In Sichuan and Shaolin, she was so out of her mind that she had no time to care.

And Zhongnan.

Because of the relatively relaxed atmosphere at the beginning, Su Yeohyang was feeling uncomfortable with men for the first time in a long time.

In the midst of that, she had met a man who, although his features were fine, definitely looked like a man, but she did not feel any discomfort, and that was Zhuge Hwaryeong.

Since she was also good at talking, Su Yeohyang felt quite comfortable while talking with Zhuge Hwaryeong.

Su Yeohyang even felt a little affection for Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was cool and sympathized with her a lot.

And yet.

"A-and yet!! The fact that she was actually a woman!!"

Su Yeohyang felt a great sense of betrayal.

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was flustered by that reaction, awkwardly avoided Su Yeohyang's eyes and scratched the back of her head.

'Ah, this is too much like Senior Brother Yungae's behavior.'

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was scratching her head, realized that her current behavior was similar to Hong Yungae's and hastily took her hand off her head.

Then she looked at Su Yeohyang, who was panting in front of her.

'Cute.'

The sight of Su Yeohyang, who had not even reached the age of majority, being sulky was cute, and the corners of her mouth went up slightly without her realizing it.

"Did you just laugh? Is this funny?!"

Seeing that, Su Yeohyang, for whatever misunderstanding, panted and showed a very sulky look.

Zhuge Hwaryeong took one hand off the reins and hastily waved it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just that Hyang's appearance is cute."

"C-cute?!"

At Zhuge Hwaryeong's sudden words, Su Yeohyang's face turned red up to her ears, and she didn't know what to do.

Since her anger seemed to have subsided, Zhuge Hwaryeong hastily continued to speak.

"The reason I didn't explain that I was cross-dressing was because it's a habit, and since the martial arts of the people around me are all so high, it seemed they had noticed to some extent, so I didn't bother to explain."

"I didn't know!"

"I'm sorry about that part. So, can I explain my situation?"

"...Go ahead."

Zhuge Hwaryeong, looking at Su Yeohyang, who was sitting next to her with her face still red, smiled brightly and uttered her situation.

"The place I was living in was completely ruined, so I was scattered with my family and relatives. After that, while thinking about how to make a living, what I chose was cross-dressing."

"It's certainly hard for a woman to live alone if she hasn't learned martial arts..."

"It's certainly hard for a woman's body."

Su Yeohyang and Zhuge Hwaryeong turned their gazes to the side where the voice that had suddenly joined their conversation had come from.

There, was Cheon Suhye with a chilly face, who had stuck her head out of the carriage and was looking at them.

Both Su Yeohyang and Zhuge Hwaryeong were inwardly flustered because they had not imagined at all that Cheon Suhye would join their conversation.

However, Zhuge Hwaryeong, who had many various experiences, quickly composed herself and asked Cheon Suhye.

"Does the Plum Blossom Sword also have such an experience?"

"The title of Plum Blossom Sword is too much for me. Please call me by another title."

"Then what should I call you?"

At Zhuge Hwaryeong's question, a slight fine line appeared on Cheon Suhye's icy face.

With a slightly embarrassed face, she closed her eyes and then coughed.

"Ahem, I think you can call me Great Hero Cheon."

"Great Hero Cheon?"

She shamelessly uttered the title for herself.

Naturally, Zhuge Hwaryeong felt a question at the words that came out of Cheon Suhye's mouth.

'The title is burdensome, but the sound of 'Great Hero' is okay?'

Although she felt a question, since Zhuge Hwaryeong had no particular thoughts about titles, she quickly shook the question from her head.

"Does Great Hero Cheon also have such an experience?"

"I do. After my family died, I wandered here and there as a ronin with a single sword."

"...You're amazing."

Su Yeohyang was genuinely impressed by Cheon Suhye's words.

Although Su Yeohyang was also the same in that she had no family, since she had grown up in Emei from a young age, she did not have much inconvenience in her life.

To such a Su Yeohyang, Cheon Suhye, who had wandered the world with a single sword, was very unfamiliar, but.

'To wander that harsh world with a single sword, that's amazing...'

She felt respect.

Su Yeohyang looked at Cheon Suhye with a respectful gaze.

Her chilly appearance also, hearing the situation, was understandable.

And so, Su Yeohyang, who was looking at Cheon Suhye, felt a strange sense of incongruity.

'She definitely looks chilly, but why do I get the feeling that her nose is twitching slightly, as if she's gloating?'

She definitely felt a strange sense of incongruity.

'No! What a rude thought am I having? Great Hero Cheon must have lived a hard life!!'

But Su Yeohyang soon shook her head and forcibly shook off that feeling.

On the other hand, Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was driving the carriage, had noticed the sense of incongruity felt from Cheon Suhye long ago.

'I thought she was just chilly, but that was actually all a mask. It turns out she was an easy person.'

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who had grasped the nature of Cheon Suhye, who was the only one in the party feeling a sense of burden, to some extent, felt at ease.

Not to mention Su Yeohyang, and since she knew that her senior sister, Tang Yuhwa, was a person whose heart was warmer than anyone else, though her outer appearance was expressionless.

"If I hadn't met Brother Baek, I would have become a cold corpse on the street long ago."

"Brother Baek? Are you perhaps talking about Great Hero Baek?"

"That's right. The only people I call 'older brother' are my dead older brother and Brother Baek."

Zhuge Hwaryeong looked at Cheon Suhye and Su Yeohyang, who were having a rather comfortable conversation, with a pleased gaze.

In the middle of that.

"I also became a disciple after Master saved me from an assassin group."

Tang Yuhwa joined the two's conversation.

"You said you were definitely Brother Baek's disciple, right?"

Cheon Suhye, who had been talking comfortably with Su Yeohyang until just before, slightly sharpened her edge and asked Tang Yuhwa.

Tang Yuhwa looked at such a Cheon Suhye with a sullen face.

It was a sight like a predator threatening a competitor in front of its prey.

"I am Master's second disciple, Tang Yuhwa."

"I am finally introducing myself. I am Great Hero Baek's sworn sister, Cheon Suhye."

The two, who had not mixed words much before, were now introducing each other.

Regardless, Tang Yuhwa's sharp gaze was still the same.

"But did Master acknowledge it?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"That you're sworn siblings, did Master acknowledge that?"

"That is..."

At Tang Yuhwa's sharp attitude, Cheon Suhye was at a loss for words for a moment and then carefully opened her mouth.

"...He said I could use the title of 'older brother'."

"Did Master say that first? Or did it just become so because you kept insisting?"

At Tang Yuhwa's sharp words, Cheon Suhye carefully recalled the previous situation.

'I did bring it up first...'

Thinking about it, the current title was the result of her bringing it up first.

It was by no means the result of Baek Yoonjun bringing it up first.

It was a human relationship that Tang Yuhwa, who knew Baek Yoonjun's psychology better than anyone else, could grasp.

Although Cheon Suhye was at a loss for words, she did not look kindly on Tang Yuhwa's sharp attitude.

Therefore, she forced herself to open her mouth.

"...Since Brother Baek also calls me 'sister', it is an acknowledged fact. Therefore, if we go by seniority, I am above you, so please be careful with your words."

"Master didn't certify that. So I can't acknowledge it."

It seemed as if sparks were flying from the eyes of the two who were facing each other. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

At that sight, Su Yeohyang screamed 'Hiiik!' in her heart and clung to the driver's seat as if shrunken.

And Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was watching them.

'Senior Sister Yuhwa, could it be?'

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who had read her psychology from Tang Yuhwa's actions, smiled with satisfaction and watched.

'My senior sister is cute.'

And so, having revealed their inner thoughts to some extent and with the atmosphere having loosened up a bit, the party was heading for Emei.

---

While Tang Yuhwa's party was heading for Emei, in Mount Song, Shinseung was seeing off the party of Diancang.

"Shaolin will not forget the grace of Diancang. Please take care."

"Diancang... will not forget the grace bestowed by Shaolin."

And so, after exchanging a short farewell, Shinseung looked at the party of Diancang leaving Mount Song with a complicated expression.

At the head of them was the disciple of Hyun Junhyun, Tae Hayeon.

'At a young age, she has lost a master who was like a parent.'

The situation of the current Diancang, which had lost its foundation and its central point, was by no means good, so the shoulders of Tae Hayeon, who had lost her master, would be even heavier.

A sect was originally a group formed by martial artists who shared the same will, and its scale was usually small.

Therefore, unlike a family that had a close relationship with the government and was tightly bound by blood ties, it was easy to be shaken if it lost its central point.

Therefore, people who could not receive the protection of the government relied on families.

'Not everyone can rely on a family...'

But just as the government did, a family could not protect everyone.

Rather, there were not a few cases of exploitation.

'That's why sects were needed, and Diancang was also like that...'

The future lives of Diancang and the people under its protection would by no means be easy.

Shinseung sighed inside at the bleak reality.

'Shaolin is also not in a position to worry about others...'

The scale of Shaolin was large.

But Shaolin was, strictly speaking, not a sect but a temple.

For 700 years, its foundation was, to the last, a Buddhist community that served the Buddha.

However, since the world was so turbid and people could not be saved with just Buddhist faith, there were only martial monks who had taken up force to protect the law.

Even now, there were many monks inside Shaolin who felt a question as to whether this direction was right, and Shinseung was also one of those people.

"Namu Amitabha..."

Shinseung, who had been worrying about the unfortunate situation of Diancang and then worrying about the direction of Shaolin.

"Gwanseeum Bosal..."

He uttered a Buddhist prayer and turned his gaze to the roof of a nearby building.

"What do you think of the future direction of Diancang, Benefactor Zhuge?"

A roof that seemed to have nothing at a glance.

But as Shinseung's question ended, as if in answer to it, a figure appeared, then came down from the roof and stood in front of Shinseung.

"I didn't mean to watch in hiding..."

Zhuge Wuhyun, who had come down from the roof, scratched his head as if embarrassed.

"Don't mind it. It's not like you had any ill intentions, right?"

Shinseung smiled benevolently as if he didn't particularly mind Zhuge Wuhyun's actions.

"However, may I hear about the artifacts that Benefactor Zhuge has recovered?"

He uttered a question.

(End of Chapter)